Experts Predict Decrease
in Panama's Public Debt
Panama's public debt
will decrease to 48.1
percent of the Gross
Domestic Product in
2008, a firm specialized
in economic analyses
said on Saturday.
According to the
consulting firm Indesa,
the government's debt
will drop next year to a
level considerably lower
than the 74 percent of
the GDP that President
Martin Torrijos found
when he took office in
2004.
Indesa estimates that
Panama's public debt
will be lower than 10.2
billion dollars by the
end of 2008.
That amount is 500
million smaller than the
current public debt,
which totals 10.71
billion dollars,
according to the latest
report from the Public
Credit Department of the
Ministry of Economy and
Finance.
The newspaper La Prensa
said that this could be
interpreted as one of
the main economic
achievements of the
incumbent
administration, because
it implies that the size
of the public debt
compared to the size of
the economy is shrinking
drastically.
If that tendency is
confirmed, Panama will
get closer to the
positive and coveted
"investment degree"
granted by international
risk-certifying
companies, the newspaper
added. |
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